Social Shop

Do you have a niche market with an engaged audience and large fan base? If so, have you ever thought about becoming an affiliate marketer? Successful affiliate marketing relies on creating partners (you!) that have an audience that is ready and willing to purchase their products. That audience is typically developed through a blog, website and now social media outlets such as Facebook. This is where you come in.

Let’s say you have a Facebook fan page dedicated to your passion around baseball or your favorite baseball team. You have a large Facebook audience with over 2,000 fans. They are continually engaging with your posts and often times start discussions of their own. If you favorite team is the Boston Red Sox why wouldn’t your fans want to buy products about their favorite team right from your Facebook page?

So how do you go about finding an affiliate marketer that has products to match your niche market? There are several websites, such as Commission Junction or Doba, that allow you to search for specific products to sell and match you with the right affiliate(s). You can also search in Google for specific keywords to match you with companies that affiliate market, such as MLB product affiliates.

Now that you have found potential affiliates to partner with you can think about the marketing that will focus on their products. If your large fan base is engaged on your Facebook page then using a Facebook store is a logical step. You already have the key element in place to open a successful storefront – your audience of fans. For more information on opening an affiliate Facebook shop be sure to read last week’s blog post.

Once you have the store placed on your page, consider using standard Facebook posts to highlight your products. Additionally, you can use Facebook’s promoted poststo extend the reach of your posts to a larger portion of your fan base. According to eMarketer six in ten Facebook users alerted their friends to new products. That translates into 60% of your fan base promoting your affiliate products!

To get started in affiliate marketing begin with your search to find the right affiliate products to sell and promote. Then lay out a marketing plan designed for your audience. For more technical details on how ShopTab works for affiliates read our FAQ on affiliate marketing.

Your job as a merchant and a marketer is to create a unique and engaging experience on all of your social media sites, you’re probably sitting there asking what does that mean? A unique experience is one that will “stick” with your customers, it’s memorable and out of the ordinary for them. In return, they won’t forget the experience and will create a lifetime advocate promoting your company and products to their friends and followers.

If you have an existing website then your social sites may be the place to let your hair down, relax, and be yourself. Your goal in social networks is all about the two-way communication and engagement. It’s your chance to let your personality come through. You don’t sell to your friends do you? Most of the time no! You listen to them and communicate with them. They tell you their funny stories and vise versa. So why would you want to sell to your “Friends/Fans” on Facebook? They don’t want to be sold to, they want a social experience. Sure you can remind them from time to time that you are selling on Facebook as well but the more you interact with them the better chance you will have at turning them into real fans. I’m reminded of a friend’s recent casual discussion while playing golf with a business associate that led to a purchase of a piece of real estate. The intent of the game was social and fun. However, the discussion provided context for an opportunity that he wasn’t aware of but was highly interested in. The context for the purchase was driven by a conversation, interesting product and a relationship that already validated their commitment through their purchase.

So how do you create a unique experience? Do you have an interesting hobby or job, if so share it. Are you funny? Yes, then create a daily joke that’s tasteful and appropriate for all audiences. Into fashion or food then share your passion. Have cute animals? Share your pictures and stories, everyone loves adorable animal pictures. These personal things make you relatable to your audience; they are now communicating with a human, not a computer.

Now that you have their attention you want to integrate your products into the mix to remind your audience that you have a social shop, key word is “social.” If you started to engage your fans by introducing pictures of cute, furry animals then use that to your advantage with your products. For example, if you sell jeans then post pictures of dogs wearing your jeans or just wearing jeans with a caption that says “Think these look good on him, imagine what they could do for you! Shop today in our Facebook store by clicking on your Shop app icon.” You have now successfully been engaging, sociable, and a marketer all at one time. Get creative this is the fun part figuring out how to share your products with your personality thrown in.

You are now creating a unique experience that customers will remember. Many times your products aren’t highly unique so you have to stand out from the crowd. If people associate you with the dog jean pictures then you have successfully stuck with them. And they are more likely to share it with their friends who share those interests. It’s time to build on the experience, branch out and post things that are relatable to your unique content. Start to build your niche.

Once you have built your experience make sure you maintain it, you don’t want to drop off the face of the earth. All your efforts will have been wasted. Stay consistent and reliable your fans will reward you for it. Do you have a favorite brand you like to follow because they’re out of the ordinary? If so let us know in the comments below.